Conventionally, titanium diboride-boron nitride pellets or billets are produced by hot pressing a blend of titanium diboride and boron nitride powders in a desired ratio under suitable high temperatures and pressures. Receptacles, or as they are commonly referred to vaporization boats, are machined from these billets to end users' specifications and then employed by the end users as resistant heat sources and containers for vacuum metallizing metals, such as aluminum. The two powders, titanium diboride and boron nitride are generally prepared by separate processes and then mixed and hot pressed into billets. Titanium diboride powder has been prepared in a continuous furnace by the carbon reduction of TiO.sub.2 and B.sub.2 O.sub.3, and boron nitride powder has been produced by a batch process by reacting melamine and B.sub.2 O.sub.3. The separately produced BN and TiB.sub.2 powders are then blended together, prepressed and then hot-pressed using conventional techniques.
An object of the present invention is to provide a process for producing titanium diboride and boron nitride powder using a single process procedure.
It is another object of the present invention to produce titanium diboride and boron nitride powder from a mixture of raw materials used to produce BN and TiB.sub.2.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a process for simultaneously producing BN and TiB.sub.2 powders that is cost effective and time efficient.
It is another object of the present invention to hot-press synthesized powder of BN and TiB.sub.2 obtained from a single process to produce billets which can be machined to a user's specifications to yield resistant heat sources and receptacles for vacuum metallizing metals, such as aluminum.
The above and further objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent upon consideration of the following detailed description thereof.